Altruism and Self-Interest in Democracies : Individual Participation in Government

Individuals have little incentive to vote, acquire political information or contribute campaign funds, because their vote has very little chance of affecting the outcome of an election. Jankowski offers an explanation and evidence for political participation based on the fact that most individuals are weakly altruistic. Individuals have little incentive to vote, acquire political information or contribute campaign funds, because their vote has very little chance of affecting the outcome of an election. Jankowski offers an explanation and evidence for political participation based on the assumption that most individuals are weakly altruistic. Other proposed explanations of political participation (civic duty and expressive behavior) are not supported by the evidence, or fail to explain the many different forms of political participation, such as the acquisition of political information. Evidence is presented that liberals and conservatives are equally altruistic. Therefore, an explanation of why liberals and conservatives differ in their support of various government programs to help the needy is presented. Jankowski's analysis examines both the electoral and post-electoral phases of representative democracy "Individuals have little incentive to vote, acquire political information or contribute campaign funds, because their vote has very little chance of affecting the outcome of an election. Jankowski offers an explanation and evidence for political participation based on the fact that most individuals are weakly altruistic. Other proposed explanations of political participation (civic duty and expressive behavior) are not supported by the evidence, or fail to explain the many different forms of political participation, such as the acquisition of political information. Evidence is presented that liberals and conservatives are equally altruistic. Therefore, an explanation of why liberals and conservatives differ in their support of various government programs to help the needy is presented. Jankowski's analysis examines both the electoral and post-electoral phases of representative democracy. In the post-election phase, interest groups and elected representatives dominate the policy process. It is shown that altruistic individuals exert their influence primarily through public interest groups"-- Provided by publisher Front Matter....Pages i-ix Introduction....Pages 1-8 Why Participate in Politics? Beyond Self-Interest....Pages 9-24 Why Vote? The Evidence....Pages 25-45 Why Become Politically Informed?....Pages 47-64 The Postelection Phase: Public Interest Groups....Pages 65-94 A Gene for Altruism?....Pages 95-108 Altruism and Redistributive Government Policies....Pages 109-119 Altruistic Conservatives: Varieties of Conservatism....Pages 121-135 An Epistemic Defense of Democracy: Democracies Do It Better?....Pages 137-151 Representative Democracy: Electoral and Postelectoral....Pages 153-163 Back Matter....Pages 165-195